Happily Divorced And After

By Antonio? ?Ray? ?Harvey? |? ?California? ?Black? ?Media?

The San Francisco Commission and Department on the Status of Women (DOSW) moved one step closer to helping transform the Golden Gate City into a fully-gender equitable city by staging an event centered on women’s voices, perspectives, and ideas.

In partnership with the African American Art and Culture Complex (AAACC), DOSW presented the “Shift Happens: Women’s Policy Summit” that attracted nearly 600 women to City View at The Metreon in downtown San Francisco on April 13.

The summit was a daylong event about “shifting narratives, policies, and culture” to create a “gender-equitable space” for women, said Kimberly Ellis, Director of DOSW. The event featured prominent women, allies and advocates from across the country to come up with effective ways DOSW can build inclusive pathways to education, tools and resources to create opportunities, and practical guides for health and safety.

“The Department of the Status of Women has reframed our work into three areas: health and safety, economic security, and civic engagement and political empowerment,” Ellis said “Today, you will hear conversations about shifting in those areas that needs to happen in order to get on the path to gender equity.”

Ellis continued, “Truth be told, the shift is always happening. We (women) are always called to higher levels. What I truly do believe is that as we climb, we must lift. And when you get there, bring other women along the way as you climb. So, today is just the beginning. We’re just getting started.”

The AAACC is a space for Black creatives to present, gather, and learn, while serving as a venue for all to experience Black art and culture. The DOSW collaborates with other city leaders and agencies to address issues on numerous intersectional and interdepartmental fronts. It promotes equitable treatment and fosters the advancement of women, girls, and nonbinary people throughout San Francisco through policies and programs.

With the city’s skyline as its background, the summit attracted movement makers, policy leaders, proprietors, elected officials, community advocates, artists, and more.

Ellis and her staff brought in an array of dynamic speakers from various sectors of society. San Francisco Mayor London Breed opened up the eight-hour summit with a warm welcome and address.

Guest speakers from San Francisco included California State Controller Malia Cohen, San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar, and San Francisco City Administrator Carmen Chu.

Conversations with CEO and Co-Founder of Ellevest, Sallie Krawcheck, and U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) were also part of the program.

“We have to start highlighting the conversations about addressing the challenges that exist for women and making sure that we are taking action, putting forth women’s voices and women’s needs — and not to be apologetic about talking about it publicly” Breed said. “Today is that day to hear from various panels, actresses, people in law enforcement, men who support women and all of these kinds of folks from all over the state of California coming together to empower you.”

The first panel during the Economic Security segment focused on various economic and financial resources available to women at the local, state and federal levels in California, as well as products and support through private and philanthropic initiatives. Panelists included Holly Mitchell, Los Angeles County Supervisor; Natalie Foster, Economic Security Project President and Co-Founder; Amy Everitt, CEO of Golden State Opportunity/CalEITC; Nicole Agbayani, San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment Director; and Kimberlee Vaye, program director of California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.

“We understand at the core that women are responsible for keeping families whole and keeping communities whole,” said Mitchell, who is one of five history-making policymakers serving on an all-woman L.A. County Board of Supervisors. “When we have policies that disproportionately, negatively impact us, we are compromising the integrity of all of our communities. We do what we can to end the systemic racism and sexism that have led us to the conditions that we are expected to live and survive in today.”

The second panel addressed health and safety. Panelists included women of color Police Chiefs, District Attorneys and Sheriffs who mostly lead predominately male staff. Diana Becton, Contra Costa District Attorney; Tanzanika Carter, San Francisco Assistant Sheriff; Christina Corpus,
San Mateo County Sheriff; Bisa French, Richmond Police Chief; Brooke Jenkins, San Francisco District Attorney, Tina Nieto; Monterey County Sheriff and moderator Diana Oliva-Aroche, the Director of Policy and Public Affairs for the San Francisco Police Department spoke during this segment.

The final panel, civic engagement and political empowerment, discussed specific legislation already in the works to address structural gender inequities, as well as ways DOSW intends to leverage individual and collective efforts to organize.

The panel consisted of U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12), Emiliana Guereca Zeidenfeld, Women’s March Action Chief Executive Officer; Molly Watson, Deputy Director of California Donor Table; Erica Pinto, chairwoman of Jamul Indian Village of Kumeyaay; Sara Guillermo, IGNITE National Chief Executive Officer; and the panel’s moderator Aimee Allison, She The People President.

Tlaib made history in 2008 by becoming the first Muslim woman to ever serve in the Michigan legislature. She was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. She shared her childhood experiences, talked about her close connection to the Black community in Detroit, and the tensions she sometimes experiences serving in Congress as a woman of color.

“When I got on to that floor it really was not an institution ready for me. It really wasn’t,” Tlaib said at the summit. “But it’s going to be ready for us (women of color) because we are not going anywhere.”

An all-male panel, titled “Power ‘Man-el,’” provided a provocative conversation that explored topics including strategies to shift cultural narratives around societal roles, gender equitable frameworks in the business and private sectors and recent legislation around pay transparency.

The members of San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women spoke about championing the equitable treatment and advancement of women and girls across social, economic and political indexes through policies, programs and legislation.

In the Fall of 2020, Ellis was appointed by San Francisco Mayor London Breed to lead the DOSW. She was charged with helping to lead advocacy efforts at the local, state and federal levels for resources and policies that create greater opportunity for women, girls and nonbinary people.

Ellis manages a $25 million budget, including more than $13 million in discretionary city-funded grants to community-based organizations to support issues like gender-based violence and housing insecurity. An additional $11 million in state, federal and privately funded grants are under her purview.

Kimberly Ellis is doing such an amazing job and really making shifts happen,” U.S Congresswoman Lee said before her virtual fireside chat with Ellis during the summit.

Ellis is known around the country as a power player in politics. She has appeared on syndicated television and radio, having been interviewed by national political media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and Associated Press.

Ellis has run national operations, including the shepherding of the state and federal incorporation and launch processes in 2010 as the National Affiliate Director at Emerge America, the nation’s most effective training program for Democratic women who run for office. She led the flagship affiliate, Emerge California, as its Executive Director. Ellis holds a law degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Law at Northcentral University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Jacksonville University.

“If you like what you saw, heard, and felt it today, tell a friend, tell two or three, and tell them we are going to do this again next year,” Ellis said of hosting another women’s summit.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— Congratulations to San Bernardino County Fire’s Station 305, which has officially launched its Large Animal Rescue Team — a project spearheaded by Captain Robert Edie — as part of the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) unit.

The Hesperia station’s large animal rescue trailer is equipped with a variety of harnesses, ropes and flotation devices designed to rescue horses (or cattle) that may fall into the aqueduct, river, or down a ravine. A 400-pound realistic horse prop, used for training, can be manipulated at its joints for a variety of rescue scenarios.
The Large Animal Rescue Team traveled to Muscoy in March, where they rescued 17 large animals stuck in deep mud, along with 30 medium-sized animals.

Thanks to Captain Edie and the County Fire team for adding this valuable resource to our community!

WATSONVILLE, CA—— U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) met with families, small business owners, and farmers in Watsonville and Pajaro impacted by the recent extreme storms in California. During his visit, Padilla surveyed damage near Highway 1 where the breached Pajaro River levee caused devastating flooding to surrounding communities. During the visit, Padilla was joined by Representative Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.-19), Mark Strudley, PhD, Executive Director of Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, and Tommy Williams, Deputy Chief of Project Management at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the San Francisco District. The visit comes after Padilla and Lofgren successfully led the California Congressional delegation in urging the Biden Administration to approve a Major Disaster Declaration for the most recent severe winter storms and atmospheric river systems.

“It’s clear the communities around Pajaro have a long road ahead of them—not just to rebuild the communities affected by this year’s atmospheric rivers, but to protect the region from future natural disasters,” Senator Padilla said. “I am committed to continuing to push for increased federal investments as we work to address the inequities in our infrastructure that have long existed in our most vulnerable communities. The need will only grow as we continue to experience more frequent and more devastating natural disasters due to climate change.”

“As extreme weather events continue to put pressure on the Pajaro River levee, its antiquated embankments will continue to fail causing flooding in the surrounding fields and forcing families to flee their homes,” said Rep. Panetta. “It’s taken persistent political pressure to secure the necessary federal and state funding and solidify the partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project and put it on an expedited path forward. Nevertheless, we must keep up the pressure to start the project as soon as possible so that we can provide the necessary protections to the produce and people of the Pajaro Valley.”

Padilla surveys damage caused by the Pajaro levee breach and is briefed on the damaging effects of the flood waters reaching the nearby Watsonville Wastewater Water Treatment Plant that threatened over 60,000 residents and 4,000 acres of agricultural land

“Families and businesses in California’s 18^th Congressional District have been uprooted by the recent storms, and the Pajaro River levee breach, specifically, caused much devastation. That’s why Sen. Padilla, Rep. Panetta, and I are pushing to accelerate the federally-authorized levee upgrade project. Since the storms, we learned from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that they could use even more funding to fast-track the improvement efforts, so I am now requesting an additional $200 million for Fiscal Year 2024 through the Community Project Funding process. Unfortunately, severe weather events could get worse, not better, because of climate change, and leaders at all levels of government must make sure our communities are as resilient as possible,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren.

“At the local level, as project sponsors, we are ready, willing, and able to start building new levees, said Mark Strudley, PhD, Executive Director of Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency. “We are taking action to remove regulatory obstacles by working with our State and federal partners to hasten project delivery and in the interim to ensure the levees are repaired and ready for next winter.”

“We all continue to quickly respond to this disaster and to ensure sufficient funding is provided for all necessary work,” said Tommy Williams, Deputy Chief of Project Management at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the San Francisco District. “The Army Corps is committed to delivering near term emergency repair work and providing long term, equitable, and sustainable support for this underserved community with the construction of an improved flood risk management system beginning in the Summer of 2024.”

Senator Padilla along with Senator Feinstein, and Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Jimmy Panetta recently sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers urging them to accelerate construction of the federally authorized project to reduce flood risks faced by surrounding urban and agricultural areas, and to provide emergency repairs and response for the towns of Pajaro and Watsonville. Last month, Padilla pressed Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Shalanda Young to ensure adequate resources go to historically overlooked and low-income communities like Pajaro, California, which disproportionately bear the impacts of natural disasters due to lack of adequate protections.

Padilla, Feinstein, and Panetta secured $149 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law with Lofgren’s support to address the urgent flood risks along the Pajaro River, including the modernization of the 74-year-old levee system that was breached before improvements could be made.

By Lou K Coleman

War is Coming! The battle lines have been drawn in the sand. The forces have taken their positions. The leaders have exhausted every resource and have resigned themselves to the inevitable. Weapons are ready, now aimed toward the enemy [America]. A war that has been waged for many years but has intensified in the last few centuries. Fighting will be as fierce as it has ever been and if you aren’t under the wings of the Almighty God, you are in trouble. I’m talking about the War in Revelation!

Two beasts—end-time political powers that are Satan’s human agents to carry out his war against the woman and her offspring. This is the same war that began in heaven and quickly moved to earth and is now in its final phase. And in this phase of the war, Satan will succeed in gaining the political control that he failed to achieve in heaven, for Revelation says that he will be “given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.” Brace Yourself!

War in Revelation identical to Jesus’ warning that deceptions from end-time signs and miracles by False Christs and False Prophets will be so subtle that they will “deceive even the elect. [Revelation 13:16-17]. The first beast will “make war against the saints and . . . conquer them,” and the second beast will cause anyone who refuses to worship the first beast to be killed! Brace Yourself! Another World War is coming, and it will be the biggest World War ever. According to the Bible, one out of three people on the earth will die in this war of all wars. And out of the chaos and destruction, a strong leader will rise to promise peace and security. The Antichrist will step onto the world scene at just the right moment. He will provide firm direction, but he will also demand absolute obedience. Brace Yourself!

I want you to know that there are four prophetic developments occurring right now that demonstrate how close we are to the Euphrates River War, otherwise known as World War III. Get under the wings of the Almighty God NOW! DO NOT DELAY!

Read and understand the prophetic truths found in the Book of Revelation. [Revelation 6:2; 4; 11:7; 12:7; 13:4, 7; 16:14; 17:14; 19:11; 19:19]. As Daniel related too in the final chapter of his book God will open up the prophetical books at the end times so that those with wisdom can discern what is coming. Because what God prophesied for ancient Judah also applies to America. Brace Yourself!

SACRAMENTO, CA— Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson has introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 702, the Promoting Youth Success and Empowerment Act (PROMYSE Act), to support community-based youth development services in juvenile justice programs. The bill will reduce the involvement of law enforcement entities in these programs, by shifting resources to Community Based Organizations (CBO) and other non-law enforcement agencies, that provide trauma informed, restorative programs and services for youth impacted by the juvenile justice system.

In 2022, 63% of JJCPA funds were spent on probation salaries and benefits, with half of all California counties spending more than 70% of their JJCPA funds on probation salaries and benefits. Riverside County alone spent 15% more this past year on probation salaries and benefits than in 2021. The record low numbers of youth being referred to probation does not match the JJCPA allocation. Referrals to juvenile probation declined 66% between 2006 and 2020, with an additional 24.7% drop between 2020 and 2021.

According to Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson, “AB 702 (PROMYSE Act) will help ensure that our juvenile justice system is centered around the needs of our youth and their families, rather than punitive measures. By prioritizing community-based youth development services and increasing community representation in the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC), we can create programs that promote healing and restoration for our at-promise youth.”

Co-sponsored and supported by a broad coalition of CBOs (listed below), AB 702 will require programs and strategies funded under these provisions to be modeled on healing-centered, restorative, trauma-informed, and positive youth development approaches in collaboration with community-based organizations. This bill recognizes the critical support and skills that CBOs bring, and the added value that in-community programming provides to not only prevent recidivism, but can address the needs and challenges that youth face in their neighborhoods. To increase the success of this supportive arm, this bill also requires no less than 95% of JJCPA funds to be allocated to community-based organizations and public agencies or departments that are not law enforcement entities. Programs such as those provided by Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) in Oakland include culturally-competent community healing work, youth leadership development programs catered to systems-impacted youth and young adults, life coaching, violence interruption work, build youth leaders and have shown to prevent violence, crime, and further re-entrenching youth in the criminal justice system.

Breon Hatcher, Leadership Development Programs Associate at CURYJ, and a formerly incarcerated youth who went through CURYJ programming before becoming an employee said, “Through CURYJ, I gained a deeper understanding of how the school-to-prison pipeline affected me directly, and the ways the system could have invested in building us up and giving us a pathway to flourish, rather than using $600k to incarcerate a youth. Being a part of CURYJ, I am able to turn my pain into healing by reimagining how the system works,”

Organizations such as SBX Youth & Family Services provide a variety of programs and services to youth and their families in the Inland Empire. Their prevention and intervention programs offered to young people are restorative, culturally focused, trauma-informed and youth-centered. These include mentoring programs, restorative justice programming, youth civic engagement initiatives, and culturally focused programs that build cultural and historical appreciation of self while also establishing confidence in identity.

Jessica Aparicio, Director of Engagement & Social Impact from SBX Youth & Family Services, also expressed support for the bill, stating that “AB 702 (PROMYSE Act) is a step in the right direction towards creating a more just and equitable juvenile justice system. By promoting healing-centered, restorative, trauma-informed, and positive youth development approaches, we can create programs that empower our youth and their families to thrive rather than continue to punish them.”

Furthermore, AB 702 (PROMYSE Act) requires the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC) of each county to provide annual, data-driven reports to the Counties Board of Supervisors and the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) relating to their programs. AB 702 (PROMYSE Act) has been referred to the Committee on Public Safety and is set to be reviewed on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.

The bills co-sponsors include:

Alliance for Boys and Men of Color
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, California
California Alliance – Youth & Community Justice
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Children’s Defense Fund-California
Community Interventions
Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice
Fresh Lifelines for Youth
National Center for Youth Law
National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives
SBX Youth & Family Services

PACIFIC OCEAN (April 10, 2023) Aviation Electronics Technician 3rd Class Adrian Diaz, left, a native of Hesperia, Calif., and Aviation Electronics Technician Mason Schepf, a native of Winnie, Texas, perform general maintenance on a thermal imaging camera aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Vinson is currently underway conducting Group Sail. Group Sail demonstrates Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group’s ability to rapidly aggregate the strike group units and provides an opportunity to conduct progress training to enhance levels of excellence, increase lethality and tactical proficiency of U.S. Navy units operating in the 3rd Fleet area of operation.

By Lue Dowdy | LUE Productions

Who does not love old-school music? It is something about them classics that still hits just right. Let me take a moment to introduce you to The Bromatics. The Bromatics are an Old-School R&B singing group Based in Southern California, Inland Empire to be exact.

Currently managed by STONEGAS ENTERTAINMENT, The Bromatics are singing, snapping, sliding, and spinning their way right into the hearts of many. The group was founded in 2017 and includes current members: Bill Vincent (The Doctor), Melvin Smith (Melly Mel), Robert Harris (Iceman), Victor Andrade (Magic) and Henry Andrade (Smokey). The group has performed throughout southern California at various venues.

Below is a listing of past gigs, future, gigs and five things you should know about this dynamic group.

Past Events: Private Anniversary party (Mel’s)-Temecula August 2021, The Canyon (Montclair) April 2022, The Lemon Festival-Upland June 2022, The Stuffed Potato-Anaheim-Sept 2022, The Adelanto Festival—Adelanto-October 2022, The Stuffed Potato-November 2022, Private Christmas party- Temecula December 2022, Private Christmas Party-Long Beach December 2022, Oak Mountain Winery-Temecula-Feb 2023

Upcoming Events:

The Fine Arts Theatre-Beverly Hills, 8556 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills 90211 Saturday, April 29, 2023

The Mother’s Day Brunch-Haven City Market Place,8443 Haven Ave, Rancho Cucamonga 91370 Sunday, May 14, 2023

The Five (5) things you should know about the Bromatics:

1. The group performs an exciting show filled with great Old School 70’s songs, creative choreography, and sharp dress attire.
2. The group is professional on and off stage.
3. The Bromatics have a solid personal following.
4. The group is interested in all forums of musical entertainment including Jazz Festivals, Soul Cruises, and Casinos.
5. They’re committed to expanding their brand, shows and overall appeal.

For more information on booking inquiries please visit their website at www.BROMATIC.com

By Angela Coggs
The community is invited to attend the San Bernardino-Riverside Area Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Thera Sorority, Inc.’s Black & White Brunch Affair on Saturday, April 29, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the beautiful rolling hills of the Indian Hills Golf Club at 5700 Club House Drive in Riverside.

This event is open to the public and serves to successfully support high school students and sustain meaningful programs and scholarships in our service area. Tickets are $100.00 ($104.12 including PayPal fees). Interested attendees can scan the QR Code or visit www.sbraac-dst.org or mail a check to: SBRAAC, PO Box 7938, Moreno Valley, CA 92552.

There will be delicious food, dancing, a live DJ, 360 Photo Booth, Silent Auction and Vendors. This years honorees include Daphne Hawkins and Neighbors United Political Action Committee.

Please plan to attend this amazing event and support our local programs and scholarships. The deadline to purchase tickets is on Monday, April 24, 2023. If you have any questions, please contact Cynthia Alexander Holt at the email listed above.

We look forward seeing you there.

By Brian Whitehead

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- The playground at Vermont Elementary School is much greener these days thanks to five brothers who donated a new soccer field to the Muscoy school and greater community where they got their start.

Well before the McGuire brothers built their successful bail bonds company, Cesar, Danny, Gabriel, Gilbert and Marco lived down the street from Vermont Elementary and played football, tag, baseball and every other outdoor sport on the grass field and blacktop at the rear of the school.

The siblings returned Friday, April 14, to unveil their $250,000 gift to the place they called home.

“For some,” youngest brother Cesar McGuire said to those gathered, “this may just be another playground in a neighborhood. But for others, like myself, my brothers and the people of this community, it’s hope. Hope that the kids who play on this field will be inspired, inspired to become athletes, teachers, entrepreneurs, community leaders or anything else that helps contribute to our society.

“Even if the new field inspires just one kid,” McGuire continued, “it was worth it.”
At 2 acres, the McGuire Family Community Soccer Field is plenty big for hundreds of Vermont students to run around freely.

Avagrow, a Holland-based hydroponics grow shop, installed the grass over three months with an eye toward creating strong root development and retaining water.

Six trees on the perimeter of the field represent the five McGuire brothers and their sister.

The natural and healthy grass is as lush as it is green, a perfect playing surface with “a tremendous number of benefits to the environment and community,” McGuire said. “What we do today will set an example for generations to come.”

Serving a high-poverty, low-income community, Vermont has a majority Latino, Hispanic, Mexican student population, Perez said. No matter the challenges, she added, “it’s also one of the most beautiful communities I’ve ever had the pleasure of serving because it is one of unity, love and support.”

Kayden Bejarano, a Vermont student, spoke to those in attendance Friday of the benefits the new field will provide.

“Soccer can be a chance for kids who don’t know how to play soccer to learn how to play,” he said. “A soccer team can make kids get off their phones and work to be good at sports they like. A soccer team can be an influence for kids to learn that when you lose, it can be a good thing because you learn you need more practice to win.”

A gift that will last a lifetime, Perez called the field.

“This is a way for us, the McGuire family, as a whole, to say thank you for allowing the McGuires to leave their mark on a place that we called home almost 40 years ago today,” McGuire said.

“Muscoy.”

By Gina Warren, Marilyn Woods, Damond “Fade” Dorrough, and Sarah Marikos | Special to California Black Media Partners

There is a transformation taking place in an area of Sacramento once notorious for gang violence, sex trafficking, and near decimation brought on by the crack and opioid epidemics.

Despite the cultural taboos around mental health that still exist in many communities, this transformation is healing intergenerational trauma and changing trajectories – by getting to the root.

There’s plenty of evidence documenting how our early experiences shape our health and behavior. Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, such as abuse, neglect, and growing up in a household with violence, incarceration or problematic substance use, can lead to prolonged activation of the body’s stress response, a condition known as the toxic stress response, which affects both mental and physical health throughout the lifetime – even making changes to our DNA that ripple across generations.

The impacts of ACEs are compounded by factors like racism, poverty, and community violence, leading to even greater risk of developing the mental and physical health problems associated with toxic stress.

Consider that adults with four or more ACEs are 30 times more likely to experience suicidal behaviors than those with no ACEs. That’s one in six US adults. The urgency begins early in life, as children with four ACEs are eight times more likely to experience suicidal behaviors compared to children without ACEs. While these statistics may sound alarming, we see this as a charge – a cause to connect in community, a way to destigmatize what we carry, and a path to prevention.

The good news is that healthy environments and resources can help to regulate the stress response and heal and protect us from the effects of ACEs and toxic stress. Some of the most powerful and effective work we can do to address mental health and suicide – including the concerning rates among Black men and boys – is to prevent and address childhood adversity and intergenerational trauma. This is the core of the work we’re doing from our home on the intersection of Grand Avenue and Clay Street in the heart of Del Paso Heights (DPH) in Sacramento, through grassroots organization Neighborhood Wellness.

In DPH, like so many neighborhoods all over the US, many of our Black families are navigating intangible complexities of poverty every day.   They are suffering – some out loud, spreading their pain through violence. Some move with what appears to be a reckless disregard, coping in ways that put themselves and others at risk. Some hold it together in stoic silence, grinding through the days but barely calling it a life, or masking their inner world as they perform to others’ expectations.

Childhood in DPH is far from carefree. In addition to carrying their own baggage, Black people have been handed down the traumas of our elders. They navigate systems hostile to them while bearing these tremendous burdens. Since Neighborhood Wellness got its start in 2015, we’ve been disrupting cycles of intergenerational trauma. We work to remove stigma around accessing help, and to change what help can look like. For many in our community who have felt institutionally and structurally betrayed and neglected, just learning to trust somebody is the beginning of breaking the cycle.

Programs like our Restore Legacies restorative justice program and our Higher Heights self-paced high school diploma program for adults, along with services ranging from parenting skills and DUI classes with trauma education to lifesaving opioid overdose reversal and wound treatment response trainings all address a legacy of inequities and lower barriers to thriving in our community. Our Healing Circles create a trusted space to help us deconstruct what we carry – the effects of our childhoods, what we’ve inherited from those who came before us, the ways racism and trauma have impacted our ability to learn, grow, and create our own paths.

In DPH, transformation is taking place. Mixed generations are sharing in our Healing Circles, acknowledging the need to be mindful of what others may be carrying, stepping into their roles in their families as the innovators – the ones to help make change. We’re working to empower our community, to help them see their value. Consider the fortitude, the resilience, the strength it requires just to keep showing up most days. To do the work of unburdening what we can and shouldering what we must continue to carry, and still trying to find happiness, joy, love, and greatness. Students in our high school Healing Circles get an early start on this work of unburdening, and we provide additional behavioral health services on campus to ensure our young people have a safe space to make strong strides toward promising paths.

At Neighborhood Wellness, we provide the kind of community care that shines like a beacon in any kind of weather, calling our neighbors home and reminding us: no one is on this journey alone.

When we disrupt cycles of trauma and reduce childhood adversity for the next generation – through awareness, education, skill-building, mental health care, access to resources, and lowering barriers – this is suicide prevention. This is helping keep each other alive. This is building the future of our neighborhood, and beyond.

About the Authors

Gina Warren, Pharm.D. – CEO & Co-Founder, Neighborhood Wellness

Dr. Warren, who earned her doctorate from UCSF, brings both clinical and grassroots perspectives to leading an interdisciplinary team to serve the Del Paso Heights community, her childhood neighborhood.

Marilyn Woods – CFO & Co-Founder, Neighborhood Wellness

The retired CEO/CFO/co-owner of the Institute for Fiduciary Education, Marilyn manages corporate development, assists with strategic development and executive management, and serves on the board.

Damond “Fade” Dorrough – Senior Neighborhood Navigator, Neighborhood Wellness

Damond is generationally rooted in DPH and provides historical perspective and understanding that help address the challenges in the current conditions.

Sarah Marikos, MPH – Executive Director, ACE Resource Network

A public health leader and epidemiologist, Sarah leads ACE Resource Network’s national and community-based efforts, along with their work to advance research on the biology of trauma.

California Black Media’s coverage of Mental Health in California is supported by the California Health Care Foundation